Prof. Sandra R. Leiblum was a famous psychologist and an authority in the field of sexual health. She was editor and co-editor of 10 books
and published more than 130 clinical trials and studies.

January 28, 2010 she unfortunately died; 8 months after a stroke and a tragic bike accident. Without her, the condition would probably never have been discovered...

Sandra Leiblum described the condition for the first time in 2001. In her article, she describes the phenomenon Persistent Sexual Arousal
Syndrome (PSAS), that previously was never described in the sexual, pyschological or medical literature. The syndrome was the exact opposite
of the female sexual arousal disorder (dysfunction). Women with PSAS experienced excessive and persistent arousal, instead of little
to no arousal. The essential characteristic of the syndrome is persistent feelings of vaginal congestion and other physiological signs of
sexual arousal in the absence of any awareness of sexual desire.
Five cases were known to her. In none of these cases any hormonal, vascular, neurological, pyschological or anatomic abnormalities were found.
Nothing that could explain their symptoms.

Until the tragic accident that led to her death in 2010, Sandra was intensively researching the syndrome and its etiology. Unfortunately some of the work is rather controversial due to the unreliable methodology.

Her 5 criteria
for diagnosis, are considered today (2011) to be the only valid criteria. These criteria urgently need to be extended.

In 2007 Sandra changed the name of the condition to Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder (PGAD).
She had two important reasons to do so.

1) The old name had an incorrect sexual connotation.
2) The condition could be more easily recognized as an officially registered condition.

In her research, she collaborated with many other scientists. One of them, the Dutch prof. dr. Marcel Waldinger, she had asked to consider the possible neurological involvement of the condition. After a slow start in 2004, this led to the only large
clinical ReGS study in the world and led in 2009 to the identification of the cause of the condition.

During this process, various "camps" and "approaches" have developed in academia.